It's Monday 3/28! What Are You Reading?

Organizer The date of the book

Good Monday! Today I am very late with my message, as we have just returned from a well deserved mini-vacation. Between caring for my elderly stepfather and deteriorating after I had COVID in January, it was very stressful for my husband and I. In fact, I spent most of the last week in bed because I had a chronic illness. shame. But our son took it upon himself to visit his grandfather for a few days and we ran away!

From there we drive approximately 50 minutes north to a small town called Eagle, Pennsylvania, which we have passed through several times before. We rented a beautiful cabin from Airbnb and it was just perfect! It was quiet and welcoming, beautifully decorated, light and airy and very comfortable in a beautiful property. There's something comforting about being away from home in an unfamiliar space: no messy to-do lists or chores that make fun of you, no confusion or stressful memories, and nothing. take it easy. Our shack didn't even have a TV. Those were very quiet days.

our holiday home

cozy home

Unfortunately, time has decided that winter is not over yet! We had a lovely outdoor space with two terraces and a nice place to sit by the waterfall. We were having fun wrapping up when it was snowing / snowing!

It snowed and snowed before they sent us in!

Nice place near the waterfall.

Despite the cold and gray weather, we enjoyed walking over the water to a nearby park on Sunday. I've been very limited lately due to my illness, but I'm fine and it was good to be away and move around a bit.

Gray and cold day, but still a beautiful view!

I'm glad to be away, even if it doesn't feel like spring!

We ate very well there, the first time in a long time in a restaurant. And of course we found a wonderful independent bookstore to explore! The Wellington Square bookstore in Exton, Pennsylvania was simply stunning, filled with gorgeous wood, natural light, and a wonderful selection of books. I bought Their Eyes When They See God , a classic book I've wanted to read for a long time.

Wellington Place Library

And here we are again at home!

Due to my health, I haven't been able to shoot any new videos last week, although I was able to do some medium edits (see below) when I was well rested every day.

And here's what we all read last week:

I read another book for Booktopia 2022 last week (click on Events and scroll down to sign up or see a synopsis of my 2019 Booktopia ), Ben Shattuck's Six Walks: The Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau . These are the memoirs of Thoreau's six voyages to New England, written in his books and diaries. He mainly writes about Cape Cod and Northern Maine, which we also explore and hike in two places. So I really enjoyed making those trips with him. He writes beautifully about nature and the restorative power of nature, which I have written about myself. I liked the book so much that I ordered a hardcover copy (out April 19) in advance to be able to better see the author's drawings and read my husband's drawings.

Last night I started reading William Kent Krueger's This Tender Earth , this year's Whole Neighborhood Reads selection and the next book for my neighborhood reading group. I've heard good things about Kruger novels from my friends for several years, so I'm very excited to read this novel (my first). Set during the Depression in 1932 at the Lincoln School of Indian Education in Minnesota, where hundreds of other children found two orphaned and abandoned white brothers named Odie and Albert and a mute Indian named Moses. I had just started the novel, but apparently these three, plus a five-year-old girl, went down the river in their own canoe. Now I am completely immersed in the history and roots of these poor children.

In terms of audio, I'm listening to my latest audio recording for Intermediate March, Lisa Thompson's Invention of the Cemetery . The Boy with the Goldfish is a genuine novel that I enjoyed in audio a few years ago (see link to my review). The protagonist of this book, Matthew, stays there, but here the focus is on friend and neighbor Melody. One day, while her dog Frankie is walking around the cemetery, Melody finds an old abandoned house in a corner of the cemetery and begins to unravel some mysteries and secrets related to it and the strange boy who lives inside it. I liked it so far.

My husband Ken still reads Ken Follett's Mai . We have both been fans of brochures since the 1980s, especially when he was writing detective novels, and here he is returning to his roots with a modern, timeless and unique race against time. Initially, the author notes that he was thinking about the seemingly small size of dominoes when World War I began, so he creates a number of similar scenarios in the modern world (with a female US president). It sounds exciting, and knowing how Folle writes, I'm sure it is too.

Our 27-year-old son says he has read Terry Brooks ' The Sword of Shannara , an old fantasy novel and the author's first book in the trilogy. As long as he likes it and flies. My husband said about five years ago that MTV did a TV adaptation, but our son says the trailers are a little weird, so I'm not sure he'll watch them!

Blog entries from the last week:

Intermediate Review: The Terrifying Cases of Margot Malu: The Tangled Web by Drew Weing - The third book of this imaginative graphic novel is a hilarious adventure!

Middle Class Review : Deliver Me Anne Claire LeZotte is a tense historical fiction about a deaf girl teaching communication to a deaf boy in the early 19th century.

Average Review: Kelly Lang in The Dream Room is a complex and captivating story about a Chinese-American girl from the 90s, her friends and family.

What do you read on Monday? He was introduced by Katherine on book date, so check out her blog and have fun on Monday! You can also take part in the kids / teens / youth version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

Follow me on Twitter @SueBookByBook or on my Facebook page.

What are you and your family reading this week?